Where Evils Dare

Unfortunately I won't be continuing with the pitch for Where Evils Dare written by Tony Lee, because of my commitment to Project: Luna 1947. Tony needs to crack on with the project and I have 88 pages to draw and colour for Luna, so Stefano Martino (who has worked with Tony on Doctor Who: The Forgotten) will be taking over on art duties. I'm sure he'll do an awesome job, so look out for it!!

Above are the first two pages I managed to do - I'm particularly happy with the mad splash page, great fun. Be sure to check it out, kids!

Project Luna: 1947

I'm really happy to be able to announce a forthcoming graphic novel I'll be drawing and colouring for Markosia!

Project Luna: 1947 will be an 88-page graphic novel written by Martin Hayes, who I worked with recently on the "Intergalactic Bank-Robbing Aliens" story for Futurequake. We've signed the contracts and we're ready to rock - above is my first attempt at the main characters in colour. This is basically a mock-cover, and a good way for me to get a feel for the characters I'll be drawing (and the various spaceships, spacesuits etc...)

I won't give away too much of the plot - I'll just say it will be awesome! Martin is a fantastic writer and we're going to have a blast doing this. I'll post some teaser panels and pages here as we go along, so stay tuned.

Commission

My knowledge of Warcraft goes no further than that now-classic South Park episode (which, if you haven't seen it, is probably the best episode EVER). That didn't stop me doing this recent commission for someone - I was given several screenshots from the game, so I could check out the characters, and I'm happy with how it's all turned out - it was a LOT of work, though!!

Exciting comics-related news coming SOON! As soon as I get the OK, I'll tell you all about it...

In other, non-artwork-related news, I have a crappy cold, but have to sing and play with my band at the Key 103 Xmas party on Friday in front of a few hundred people... should be interesting.

Just missed Halloween...

...but here's a Werewolf for ya! From the forthcoming Where Evils Dare by Tony Lee and myself... I'd love to show more but that would ruin the surprise.

I'm not dead!

No, I'm still alive - apologies for the lack of posts recently. Three weeks ago I did my back in and have been unable to sit at a computer or drawing board (or teach the guitar) since then! It was utter agony and I don't recommend it. I had to call out the emergency doctor, who filled me with pain-killers and anti-inflammatories, and at long last I'm on the mend.

This has cost me a lot of money, as I had to turn down a big commission and 3 weeks worth of guitar lessons! The problem comes from the 3 things I do ALL DAY:

1. Sit at the drawing-board
2. Sit at the computer
3. Sit teaching Guitar

Not enough exercise, not enough stretching. That's all going to change, as there's no way I'm going through this again (anyone who has had a really bad back will understand - you can't even sleep some nights you're in so much pain).

I basically took on too much work, which led to my back saying NO - had enough! Earlier this year I did the same thing when I injured my hand and couldn't draw, just overwork and not enough rest/exercise. So from now on, when I feel the pain coming I will say NO to big art jobs that come my way.

By taking on so much paid work at once, I eventually made a loss because of my resulting back problems! Now that's not good business...

Big thanks go to Elliot Elam for stepping up and taking over my Manitowoc job when I could barely even move, let alone draw a comic strip. Thanks also go to my better half Sharon for finishing off another job for the NHS.

Now that I feel almost human again, I have 2 cartoons for Global Integration the finish, as well as a commission for someone else, plus some new Dredd samples and Where Evils Dare.

Scott James

1. My artist buddy Scott James now has a blog up and running (Scott also worked on Starship Troopers). Check it out here and add him to your favourites!

2. Yes, I know "Fascists" is spelled wrong on the post below.

3. I've landed a big art job which is keeping me incredibly busy... I'm not allowed to talk about it or show any of the work to anyone which is a shame, but there you go! I'll be back in the land of comix once I've finished, stay tuned...

Facists!

Working on the last page of Intergalactic today, as well as some paid stuff for the NHS, would you believe (and more for Easy Jet tomorrow).

In other news, I've slowly been working through my entire DVD collection of the Sopranos, and it's still the most awesome TV series EVER. Well, that and Band of Brothers.

Troopers Preview

Still working on 'Intergalactic' this week, so in the meantime here's a sneak peek at one of my pages from Starship Troopers #10!

Galactic Goodness

Here's another panel from the forthcoming "Intergalactic Bank Robbing Teenage Space Aliens on the Run" for Future Quake. This was written by the mega-talented Martin Hayes and is really funny - I should start drawing more sci-fi craziness, as this first page has been so much fun (it's a 4-pager). I also get to "colour" this in grey tones, which is something I've never tried before.

Starship Troopers is FINISHED, so I can now work on this new project, as well as Where Evils Dare and some more Dredd samples.

In other news, I have taken posession of my brand new Vauxhall Corsa VXR - it's bloody quick and extremely good fun to drive - I have proudly joined the ranks of Boy Racer. WOOOH!

My covers band The Electric Detectives have begun recording a new demo (drums done yesterday) and our new Flash site should be up and running in a week or two.

And with that, back to the drawing-board...

YE GADS!

My new project is a BLAST to work on!! More soon...

Trooping Onwards!

Just got my copies of Starship Troopers #9 and it looks fantastic - niiiice print job! My colours came out exactly as I wanted them to. My Stateside buddy Scott James' pages look great as well. This project was no easy ride (just ask anyone who worked on it!!!) but holding the end result in your hands gives you a real sense of achievement - very nice to have your first published comic work.

And on that bombshell, here's a sneak peek at another panel from issue #10:

Starship Troopers #9

So Starship Troopers #9 "Triple Threat" is now out, in all good comic shops. I haven't seen it as I haven't been sent any copies yet... but Scott James picked one up at his local in the US and says it looks great. Here are a couple of my pages, with my colours (I won't be colouring my pages for #10 - I have a newfound respect for people who colour their own work and hit their deadlines - it takes FOREVER). Cover is by Scott.

Anyway, rush out and buy it - enjoy!

War Wound

You don't even want to know what this poor guy is looking down at...

More Troopers

Haven't updated my blog in a while - still wading through the second installment of Starship Troopers, although this time it's been more of a breeze as I'm not colouring my pages as well. I seem to have much more of a rhythm going when I'm working in black & white, not to mention it being a hell of a lot faster!

When this is done, I'll be continuing work on Where Evils Dare, as well as a 4-pager for Future Quake, then more samples for 2000AD.

Nazi Hobos

This was a character sketch for Where Evils Dare - I misunderstood what Tony was after for these characters and had to redesign - but it's still a pic I quite like :-)

More Evil!

The above is another panel from Where Evils Dare, written by Tony Lee. I won't show too much more right now as we don't want to ruin the awesome surprises to come!

I have finally been sent my script for the second part of Starship Troopers: Triple Threat and I've started on the rough layouts today. Eight pages need to be done by the end of next month, but it looks like I'll have a colourist this time round (yay!)

Evil...

Long time no post!

Well, I've finished my first episode of Troopers and I've started work on another project that I'm pretty excited about, written by Tony Lee. Look above for a little sneak preview - more soon.

In other news, my damn hand problem reared it's very ugly head again last week and I had to cancel all my guitar teaching and stay away from the drawing-board and the mouse for several days. Back at work now, but from now on I will listen to my body when it tells me I'm slowly injuring myself... not to mention the money I lose when I can't work!

HATE

Sometimes you just hate drawing. Everything you do comes out shit, no matter what you do. Yesterday was one of those days. Thankfully, today is going a lot better - but I'm going back and redrawing a couple of panels that are so bad I'd cry for a month if they were published.

You talkin' to me?

Work continues on Starship Troopers - I should have my first episode finished by next week :-) My comic schedule has been knocked back the past 2 weeks by all the paid work I've had recently - a comic strip for Manitowoc, more cartoons for Global Integration and more stuff for Easy Jet, all in colour. It's all paid work though, so I'm all over it, as they say... even though my drawing hand feels like it's about to fall off.

Bristol Comic Expo 2008

Well, we survived Bristol - and bloody good fun it was too! Met some great new people, showed my portfolio all over the place, met some editors, ate expensive food, drank expensive drinks, got arrested by some Stormtroopers (twice)... the perfect (very hot and sunny) weekend. I'll post a load of photos here for your amusement :-)

Cool new people we met: Jon Davis-Hunt (below, who recently drew Tempest for the Megazine). We bumped into each other throughout the weekend, and had a great artists' chinwag while waiting in line for a portfolio review - what a nice guy! He's going to be working with Tony Lee on a new series for 2000AD.

Lee Carter was another top bloke (he recently finished Dead Eyes for 2000AD) - I was amazed at how bright and vibrant the colours were on the prints he had of his pages - apparently there was a problem with his monitor's brightness settings when he was working on Dead Eyes, which led to the printed version in 2000AD looking too dark. So to everyone moaning about the "muddy" art, that's the reason!

Caught up with Tony Lee, who is truly the king of conventions - he knows everybody! After Starship Troopers, we're going to be working on something new and very cool, which I'll post about soon. Tony was responsible for the high point of my weekend - he brought none other than Comic Art God Dave Gibbons over to our table at the Ramada bar (I was fighting my inner fanboy instincts all the way). Dave was more than happy to sit with us and look at my portfolio and gave me some great advice and a few compliments too - it was a pure artist/fanboy moment I'll never forget. Thank you Tony - thank you Dave.

Another fanboy moment for me was meeting a very hungover Simon Bisley on Sunday Morning:

Sharon and I were impressed with the Ramada - nice room, great restaurant and (expensive) bar - we'll definitely be making the trip again next year. Another highlight was walking past the massive queue to get into the con on Saturday morning - and getting in for free, no less. It pays to be a creator!! A few more pics:

Lee Carter with Dave Taylor:

Harry Markos at the Markosia booth:

Sean Phillips with his son and friend Lewis:

Matt "Tharg the Mighty" Smith:

Dave Gibbons:

And last but not least, a Dredd page from my portfolio (still no work for 2000AD yet, but I'll be doing more samples when I have time). I did have a good response from some other editors, so I'll post any news on that in the coming weeks. And now... back to the drawing-board :-)

Look into the eyes, not around the eyes...

Well, the Bristol con is only 3 days away - we've got the train tickets and the hotel room all booked, portfolio is choc full of arty goodness, I have new business cards and for the first time ever I'll be a "guest" rather than a punter (which means I get to swan about with a name badge on, like I'm actually a somebody in the comics industry!).

Starship Troopers goes well - just 2 more pages and I've finished my first part. My damn hand problem reared its ugly head again last week - a full day of drawing followed by over 3 hours guitar teaching... I don't recommend it. My right hand had a shooting pain through it, which lasted almost a week - I couldn't draw, play guitar or use a mouse. Almost better now though and I'm back on track.

I'll take photos at the convention and post here when I get back back - looking forward to showing my stuff to the likes of Simon Bisley, Dave Gibbons, Duncan Fegredo, Dave Taylor, etc - and most importantly of all, Tharg the Mighty. There will be a few editors from DC Comics there too, so I'll take my chances with them as well.

Scary Bald Kid

Still hammering away at Starship troopers... should have another project to announce soon, stay tuned!

Triple Threat

Well it's been a while since I posted - I've been slaving away over Starship Troopers and it's looking good; fortunately the deadline has been pushed back, so that's taken some pressure off! I've had other illustration work to do as well as the comics, so the delay is more than welcome.

My story will appear in issues #9 and #10 and is called Triple Threat. There are three artists and three writers in all, writing and drawing the three parts to the story. One of the other artists is Scott James, who I've spoken to on the phone a couple of times - and his work is fantastic - he doesn't mind calling me all the way from the USA to talk comics, so he's a good guy in my book! He's also done the covers for the two books, and they look great.

Here is a sneak peek at one of my panels - I can't show more or I'd be giving away the story :-)

Troopers

Right now I'm working hard on Starship Troopers; 7 pages need to be pencilled, inked and coloured by the end of the month! The Bristol comic con is coming up fast too, so I've started putting together my portfolio for that.

More Dredd Colours

A before-and-after look at a panel of the Judge Dredd samples I'm working on.

Mega City One by night

How romantic... they should really be holding hands with a view like that...

Working on a few new Dredd sample pages this week, in preparation for the Bristol con in early May. I've taken the plunge and gone for full colour this time.

My big news is that I'm going to be doing a few pages for Starship Troopers comic (Markosia) - my first "real" published comics work! This is thanks to Editor/Writer Tony Lee; you can read more about it in the last paragraph of his latest column over at Comics Bulletin here:
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/hoaw/120579061026864.htm

Bloody hell, I better do a good job now, hadn't I! The Dredd stuff is a nice warm-up for the Troopers gig, as I'll be doing full colour pages for that as well - just waiting for the script...

Website Updated

I've updated my main site at last - I've changed the design to a much simpler, faster-loading no-nonsense look. No more rollovers and i-frames thank you very much... from now on it's clean and simple all the way (God I hate web design - I used to love it, now I want it as simplistic and unlikely to go tits-up as possible): http://www.jimmibo.co.uk/

The Creative Process (well, how I do it anyway)

Here is a little look at the various stages a page goes through - at least the stages it goes through when I draw it! This is another page from Imposter.

Pencils: The space on the lower left is for the titles and credits. Tony pointed out that I hadn't left much room for the dialogue in panel 2, so I enlarged that panel before inking...

Inks: I'm very into my brushes and dip-pens these days, they're really starting to work well for me. I used to use various technical drawing pens from 0.1 to 0.8 - and I still do for some bits and pieces, but it's 90% brushes and dip-pens now. The line is so much more varied and "alive." You can see below, how Photoshop saved my arse once again - I drew more space for the panel 2 dialogue, then photoshopped it to overlap the main panel.

Colours: Photoshop once again for the colours. Here's a shot as I started work - I wish I'd taken more as I went along, I'll try to do that with the next thing I colour. I always do the backgrounds first obviously, and the foreground figures are the last thing to work on.

... and here is the final coloured page!

Imposter

Here's a look at a couple of pages from Imposter - which is a pitch I've been working on with writer Tony Lee (Starship Troopers, Doctor Who, etc). I'm not sure if we'll be doing much more of this, but it can't hurt to show a couple of pages off!

Vodka!

According to my sources, my cartoons now adorn the new food/booze menu at Revolution Vodka bars around our fair nation... and I haven't even seen it! As I have no life and never leave the drawing-board, I have one of my trusted minions out there stealing one for me as we speak. Here are a few of the caracatures (did I spell that right?) that I did for the menu. If you can't tell who they are, I haven't done my job very well have I?

All images copyright (c) Revolution 2008:

More Goldfish!

Here is a look at the finished goldfish cartoon - this was for Global Integration; you can see it used on their blog here: www.lifeinamatrix.com I've almost finished the next one too.

In other news, I'm still working on that other special little project, so stay tuned for more on that - and I may actually be published as a comic artist later this year on another project! As soon as it's a "go" I'll be posting the news here.

Booked my hotel nice and early for the Bristol comic con later this year - this time we'll be staying over two nights, so it should be less stressful than the sprint down to Birmingham last year!! We can mosey on down on Friday, and not be so knackered on Saturday morning, so I'm looking forward to that. Now it's back to the drawing-board for me...

Talking Goldfish

This job is never boring... you really don't know what you'll be drawing next.

Just finishing up the colouring for this latest commission, for a compnay called Global Integration - then it's back on to the comic stuff.

Sneak Preview...

Here's a little peek at the pencils and colouring for the next page of that special little project I'm working on (currently pencilling page 3). I'm definitely getting the hang of the graphics tablet - bloody great, it is!

I have some more commercial work which I'll be starting on tomorrow when I've rung the client, so the comic stuff will have to wait a wee while - but I'll be right back on it as soon as that's done and dusted.